Russian Spy Chief Kinda Sorta Takes Blame for U.S. Ring

Mikhail Fradkov, Russia’s top foreign spy and the man at the center of a controversy over whether Russia’s sleeper agents in America were betrayed from within, has a response to his critics: I know I’m in the doghouse, but I’m not going to change much.

Earlier this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev weighed in on reports that the country’s Foreign Intelligence Agency had missed signs of an American mole inside the agency. Medvedev, pointed the finger at the SVR, claiming it had work to do after spy babe Anna Chapman and her sleeper agent colleagues in the United States were busted by the FBI. “The proper investigation should be carried out and proper lessons should be drawn,” Medvedev said.

Today, Fradkov told the Russian press he agrees with the President’s comments about learning from the alleged incident, but isn’t quite as bold on the subject of assigning responsibility.

“We make constant changes to our personnel,” said Fradkov. “Those who do not meet modern requirements are of course asked to leave quietly.”

But that doesn’t mean we should expect any heads to roll anytime soon. Russia’s Itar-Tass news carried another account of Fradkov’s comments today in which the SVR chief said that no resignations or retirements were imminent at the agency and that no one “critical” is involved in any of the minor personnel shuffles that may take place.

Fradkov’s leadership of the SVR has been under close scrutiny ever since the Russian media carried reports that the spy agency missed signs that treasonous colonels had ratted out Russia’s American spy network to the FBI. But the stories are fairly dubious. At first, Russian media reported that an SVR employee named “Colonel Shcherbakov” was responsible for betraying the agents and that the SVR hadn’t paid proper attention to his efforts to avoid a polygraph exam and his son’s residence in the United States. The next week, Russian media reported that yet another SVR colonel, “Colonel Poteyev,” was responsible for outing the agents to the Americans and that his family’s residence in the United States, too, didn’t raise sufficient alarm at the Russian spy agency.

Though Fradkov may be right on the merits in sidestepping blame for fairly weak claims of American moles in the SVR, he’s likely wrong on the politics of it. It’s a lot easier on Russia’s ego to blame the breakup of their American network on a traitor than their spies’ own incompetence. The spies’ use of easily-intercepted Cold War-era burst communications techniques apparently delighted FBI eavesdroppers and they appear to have very little to show for their years infiltrating the United States.

Moreover, there are rumors that the designed to undermine the SVR either to pave the way for a Medvedev crony to take the agency’s helm in 2012 or allow Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), to absorb its bureaucratic rival.